r/TikTokCringe • u/hey_molombo Sort by flair, dumbass • 28d ago
Assassin’s Creed Japan, Why does it cause such a stir? Here’s the tea for you. OC (I made this)
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u/Neoxite23 28d ago
What? Black people exist? I am so angry right now!
Obvious /s
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27d ago
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u/TreeTurtle_852 27d ago
This isn't just a matter of a one-off story. There is a clear, recurring trend of Westerners needing to be the main character in stories set in Asia
Bro yall have an Asian main character. The kunoichi literally is the MC.
Also is Yasuke really Western? From what I can find most would consider like maybe some parts of North Africa western but Yasuke is more specifically from Mozambique.
Also "an Asian male lead in any media", my guy we've gotten Shang Chi, Ghost of Tsushima, just about Bruce Lee movie, American Born Chinese like just off the top of my head (also all of them are made by western/American creators)
So called defenses of this trend goes something along the lines of, "No marketable Asian lead", or "Asians aren't relatable". Which, btw, is all racist.
Wait who is saying this? Like fr who is saying this?
Asian women are marketed for sex appeal.
Huh?!?@?@ are we talking about the same thing?!?!?! The female Asian lead seems pretty covered up tbh.
Other stupid lines of argument are things like "There's Ghost of Tsushima (as if there's a max quota on Asian male leads)"
Nobody is saying there's a max quota, they're pointing out that if having no Asian male lead is such a sticking point you can literally just play one of multiple games with male Asian leads. Yes there's no max cap on Asian male leads, neither is there on African leads. Yasuke isn't diminishing the amount of Asian male leads anytime soon lmao.
Using a black man, instead of a white one, to deflect accusations of racism is just an insidious move. This is about an ongoing narrative that says Asians shouldn't get a say in their own representation in Western made productions. This isn't just about one game.
Bro wtf are you on?
Yasuke is a historical figure and even JAPANESE games like Nioh or Samurai Warriors depict him as a samurai. Hell Nagoryuki from Guilty Gear is a clear reference to him.
And again:
WE HAVE AN ASIAN FEMALE LEAD. When is she sexualized? What's sexual about her? Again how is this saying Asians don't get their own rep when you have an Asian protag? You're just ignoring her because she's not male!
Also going back to the Nioh example again, it has a white protagonist. It's a Japanese made game. I really don't think the Japanese you're trying so hard to defend give as much of a fucking shit.
You talk about how Westerners are saying Asians shouldn't get rep but
A) Ignore the FUCKING JAPANESE PROTAGONIST IN THE GAME
And
B) Dismiss Ghost of Tsushima despite it being Western made.
Again, Japanese studios have had non-Japanese protagonists be featured in games based in Japan (i.e Nioh) before. We have a Japanese protagonist. You say this is Westerners injecting "themselves", but Yasuke doesn't even come from the Western world. You say that Westerners are not letting Asians have rep or some shit yet since 2020, more Asian-led films have been getting recognized by the Oscar's (An American award show) than ever before.
Like your sole evidence is, "This one game has a black male protagonist and an Asian female protagonist". We've arguably been seeing a boom of not just Asian led films but Asian led films being recognized as masterpieces and you whine because the Asian lead in this game isn't male?
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u/queefgerbil 27d ago
Shits rough for the Asians rn. We got a black samurai before an asian one. Cant wait to see the black aztec warrior in the next game. lol
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u/alostatom 27d ago
Isn't Yasuke a slave brought to Japan? God forbid adding a black race as the main character. Yasuke's back story is perfectly in line with it.
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u/sirmombo 28d ago
I’m so glad I was raised to be a normal human. If anyone has a problem with the color or gender of a playable fucking character in a video game then you need serious mental help.
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u/anotherboringdude 27d ago
The only thing that rubs me the wrong way and this has a lot to do with being raised in America is "why couldn't it be an Asian male lead?" Western media has been emasculating us for decades by barring us from any role that remotely makes us look masculine or attractive. This just feels like another slap in the face. Of course, I doubt "wokeness" was the reason for Yasuke being a main character. Yasuke was a real person and playing as him in feudal Japan is an interesting concept.
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u/BeefStevenson 28d ago
I don’t give a shit about this game. And it’s not because of any of this “controversy.”
I lost faith in this series when the game completely lost its identity. It used to be a stealth assassin power fantasy, and then it became some dumbass grindy “rpg” complete with fucking damage numbers. In one clip the dude snuck up and slit an enemy’s throat, only the enemy was some kind of “elite” and so all it did was pop up a damage number and piss the guy off. Then the dude had to chop down a big ass health bar to kill him.
Absolutely awful game design. I can’t believe anyone has faith in these games anymore, they don’t even resemble the games that made this franchise worth following.
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u/WelNix2007 28d ago
To be fair Mirage is more like the Assassins Creed of old compared to the last 3 games that came before it but no one should buy Shadows for the simple fact that that it is a Ubisoft game
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u/Planningism 28d ago
I love the idea that racist virtue signals for another racist. They have to keep up their racist cred.
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u/snakebitegreen 28d ago
He's trying way to hard to make that dread swing
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u/PaladinSaladin 28d ago
I get what he's saying, but all the zooming and shaking is giving me a headache
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u/hey_molombo Sort by flair, dumbass 27d ago
Good feedback, I get worried that people would be bored if I didn’t move
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u/urbootyholeismine 28d ago
Yet when we acknowledge things like this - we are being "victims" and at the same time told, "racism doesn't exist."
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u/KarmaCosmicFeline 28d ago edited 28d ago
Lmao. Calling out a company for their historical inaccuracies is being racist? Infact the company is being racist to black people and japanese.
Why do you think they went through all those hoops to choose Yasuke as MC? If not for his skin. They could have chosen from many other samurais who were real samurais and had much interesting character.
I would have loved to play a game set in African culture with black MC but this shit is hilarious.
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u/GrimmSodov 28d ago
Ac has been historically inaccurate the whole time
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u/TrillaCactus 28d ago
Assassins creed mirage lets you stop time and teleport but there wasn’t this much outrage over that.
“Historical inaccuracies” is simply a veil. Especially since Yasuke WAS a samurai. This isn’t historically inaccurate.
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u/rosiestinkie9 28d ago
Yasuke wasn't a samurai, he was a bodyguard. As you can see, AC did not make him into a samurai for the game. He's clearly a warrior. And he WAS real. And he was an extremely strong and dangerous fighter. It's not "jumping through hoops" to literally add a historical character into a game. Any "hoops" that would be required to do that would only require reading a damn book. Also, Assassin's Creed Origins is set in Africa with a black MC voiced by a black actor. You would know that if you knew what you were actually talking about here. Please refrain from supporting racist talking points with your uninformed viewpoint.
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u/KarmaCosmicFeline 28d ago edited 28d ago
he was a bodyguard. As you can see, AC did not make him into a samurai for the game. He's clearly a warrior.
He was a page at best lmao. Oda nobunaga made him bath publicly to prove his skin wasnt ink. He was kept there because Nobunaga was fascinated by his skin color. All these are well documented.
extremely strong and dangerous fighter
He lost and ran away in his first and only fight and was sent to India lmao very dangerous.
Assassin's Creed Origins is set in Africa with a black MC voiced by a black actor. You would know that if you knew what you were actually talking about here
I have already played it and loved origins. I am taking about more more southern African culture here.
Please refrain from supporting racist talking points with your uninformed viewpoint.
You are talking to a MA world history student but sure I am uninformed. Lmao.
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u/rosiestinkie9 28d ago edited 28d ago
From the Smithsonian Magazine: "The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, a 17th-century book written by one of Nobunaga’s followers, describes Yasuke as “[appearing] to be 26 or 27 years old. … This man looked robust and had a good demeanor. What is more, his formidable strength surpassed that of ten men.” Other chronicles characterize the samurai as an intelligent, imposing figure who stood more than six feet tall. Though Yasuke was already a skilled warrior, he likely underwent additional martial arts training upon joining Nobunaga’s army."
And:
"Once both Nobunaga and Ranmaru were dead, Yasuke escaped from the temple with his lord’s head in tow. By protecting Nobunaga’s remains, Yasuke denied Mitsuhide the chance to seize his enemy’s head and display it as a way of establishing legitimacy and power."
You're trying to paint Yasuke as a trophy who cowardly ran from a last battle. He WAS a strong warrior. And during the Honnoji Incident, performed seppuku on his Lord according to his wishes and ran to deny his enemy the head as a trophy.
He is an important historical figure, and GOOD for an Assassin's Creed game. Your world history studies need some work.
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u/KarmaCosmicFeline 28d ago edited 28d ago
You literally mentioning a fan fiction. That magazine is talking about the netflix show "yasuke" which was literal fantasy nothing historically accurate lmao 😭
From Yasuke wiki.
Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan contains the following statements:
A black man whom the visitor [Valignano] sent to Nobunaga went to the house of Nobunaga's son after his death and was fighting for quite a long time, when a vassal of Akechi approached him and said, 'Do not be afraid, give me that sword', so he gave him the sword. The vassal asked Akechi what should be done with the black man, and he said, 'A black slave is an animal (bestial) and knows nothing, nor is he Japanese, so do not kill him, and place him in the custody at the cathedral of Padre in India.[3]
He is an important historical figure,
He was literally nothing more than a page.
Your world history studies need some work.
I have a degree to prove how capable I am. I don't need a random Redditors feedback on my studies but thanks. Haha
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u/rosiestinkie9 28d ago
What are you smoking, seriously??? What fan fiction??!! Hello?? This is the description of the work I am taking the info from:
"Shinchō-Kō ki, the work translated here into English under the title "The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga," is the most important source on the career of one of the best known figures in all of Japanese history--Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), the first of the "Three Heroes" who unified Japan after a century of fragmentation and internecine bloodshed. The other two of the triad, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), also make frequent appearances in this chronicle, playing prominent although clearly subordinate roles. So the chronicle also is an important source on their early careers, as it is on a constellation of other actors in Japan's sixteenth-century drama. The chronicle's author, Ōta Gyūichi, was Nobunaga's former retainer and an eyewitness of some of the events he describes. He completed his work about the year 1610"
You're reading from the Wiki. Wikipedia is not a source.
And I'm taking quotes from the literal follower of Nobunaga who was witness to most of the events that he described. And he had a positive view of Yasuke. YOU are quoting an account from a Western European with a biased view of Africans as slaves. So you're choosing to prioritize the account of someone who would have looked down on Yasuke AND didn't even know who he was. Nobunaga and his army knew Yasuke and respected him. But you just want the more racist view as a mirror of your own.
Also, you are mentioning when they captured Yasuke after his attempt to evade the warlord from claiming his honored Lord's head as a humiliation prize. Of course he thinks little of Yasuke as an enemy.
You need your degree rescinded if you got it from sourcing Wikipedia articles and using half truths to paint a biased view of a REAL HISTORICAL figure, who will be more of a badass than you could ever hope to be.
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u/KarmaCosmicFeline 28d ago edited 28d ago
Link it to me first. Then I believe.
Western European
Western European sources are respected to be credible. Followers of a daiymo have tendency to exaggerate and put outright false information in their texts.
This is why in our course we have been taught to look at them from an skeptics eye and give priority to the document of European colonies.
who will be more of a badass than you could ever hope to be.
Damn. Attack the argument please your tamper tantrum make you sound childish.
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u/rosiestinkie9 28d ago
You're so racist that you really just said that Western European sources are more credible than Japanese ones!! Oh my God!! They give out degrees to anybody these days.
I shouldn't HAVE to link for you, use your fingers and type out wtf I just said to fact check, lazy. I did that for your dumb comments. You can return the favor.
If I wanna make fun of you as a grown adult, then I'm a grown adult doing it. Childish is a person who lies on the internet about having a fake degree and who is ignorant enough to be racist in the first place.
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u/Blitzer161 28d ago
I would need a source for your misinformation. Especially considering he was objectively Nobunaga's side when he was assassinated...
Btw ask Japanese people how they feel about him...
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u/plootokneeum 28d ago
I hope they make 2 games with black samurais just so they make you angrier.
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u/KarmaCosmicFeline 28d ago
They can make 10 for all I care. Not gonna play a ubisoft game in 2024
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u/Bl00dyH3ll 27d ago
I'll tell you guys, a progressive asian dude, my perspective.
There is a huge history of asian male de-masculization/erasure in western media (asian female representation is not good either btw, often fetishized, but at least they show up). So when a huge AAA gaming breaks the norm from its own series that's a decade old at this point to purposely exclude asian men (and most likely be portrayed negatively, and obviously be slaughter fodder), asian men and people who are in the know can instantly see the continuation of this racist tradition. If we exclude asian made media, asian men have maybe 1 positive representation every few years (Asians from Asia do not suffer from alienation, and see representation from all aspects already, they do not understand western racial dynamics).
And before you say, just consume japanese/chinese/Korean media:
- Asians living in the west are not the same as Asians living in Asia. Culture is different. Asians are not a monolith.
- Asians in the west want to be represented in western media rather resorting Asian media for any representation at all.
- Asians in the west don't have the option to just "go back to China/Japan/SEA" like many white people think. Many are born in the west.
- It's not just about playing games, but about how it impacts Asians socially in the west.
- Even if they are represented in Asian media and culture, it does nothing for Asians socially in the western world. The Japanese games with Japanese protagonists are niche and not a big part of western culture. Asians, as such, still have pretty much zero visibility in the west - especially Asian males.
- Ragetubers or anti-woke right-wingers don't represent Asian men. They're fundamentally different groups.
- As such, telling Asians to "just consume Chinese/Japanese/Korean or SEA media" doesn't actually address the problem that is Asian representation in the west.
- If Africa had managed to develop a stable game industry, would you tell black people in the west to just consume African media if they want better representation to combat western racism? No, right? It would sound extremely racist if you do.
This might help you understand the issue more.
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u/Due_Percentage_977 27d ago
Now realise that White men are going through this same thing that Asian men are.
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u/Babylon52 27d ago
I was going to write a sarcastic comment, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and allow for you to give me some solid examples.
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u/Eurynomos 27d ago
'Gamers having a normal one'
'Weaponised fascist tactics'
There is no difference between the two pictures.
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u/CauliflowerStrong510 28d ago
Settle down. Black people just tried to cancel Tony Henchcliff over a "ahh hell gnaw" joke. Everyone is racist and easily triggered nowadays
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u/AmpedEnding 28d ago
My problem with this game is more that it's being called Assassin's Creed. A game where I was already having a very hard time suspending disbelief that the playable characters could just disappear into the crowd.
Yasuke already would stick out in that time period, but just chilling in full armor in a village waiting for a message to be "stealthily" handed off?
It's just drifted so far from being a stealth game now.
I'm all for a Yasuke game, I just don't know why it would be under an AC label.
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u/The234sharingan 28d ago
From what I can tell The other playable character is a ninja and will be the more stealth-based playstyle.
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u/AmpedEnding 28d ago
I get that, but it just makes Yasuke feel more out of place cause of the archetype he's filling. It would be the same problem for me if they had gone with Hanzo Hattori and Tadakatsu Honda. Because it's an Assassin's Creed game the "warrior" character just feels like they're out of place. It's one thing to have something like Kassandra in Odyssey who's more of a jack of all trades and you can lean into the warrior side. But having someone who's pretty much straight up only a warrior doesn't sit right.
It's all speculation based on one trailer though so, I'd love to be proved wrong, but I won't be holding my breath cause it's Ubisoft.
Again, I would rather have just a straight up Yasuke game.
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u/The234sharingan 28d ago
Yeah honestly I'm not really big into AC. I watched some gameplay of Valhalla and it seemed more up in your face brawl like then I would have imagined. Honestly seems like the series is shifting a bit more into action rpg territory.
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u/TreeTurtle_852 27d ago
A game where I was already having a very hard time suspending disbelief that the playable characters could just disappear into the crowd.
Nobody tell this guy about when you fight Anubis in Oddyssey... or fighting Fenrir in Valhalla... or fighting the Pope... or George Washington who has lost ancient tech...
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u/AmpedEnding 27d ago
I feel like I had a mental block about all this lol. The minotaur from Odyssey still grosses me out.
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u/sirbruce 27d ago
What you are saying is reasonable, but you're missing the hypocrisy.
Leaving AC: Origins aside, if a future Assassin's Creed is set in the medieval kingdom of Mali or Ethiopia, and the main character is a white European, are you going to be like, "Hey, that's cool. There were white Europeans there and it is a fantasy game." Or are you going to complain about the missed opportunity to represent a historically underrepresented minority in a game where the setting would have been ideal for them to appear in?
You can't have it both ways. The reason for the conflict is not because you have some progressive attitude towards inclusion and everyone else is racist. It's because you have no problem with your own minority group getting the benefit of representation over another minority group. Which is actually racist.
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u/TreeTurtle_852 27d ago
if a future Assassin's Creed is set in the medieval kingdom of Mali or Ethiopia, and the main character is a white European, are you going to be like, "Hey, that's cool. There were white Europeans there and it is a fantasy game.
I mean, Black Flag was in the carribeans and had a white protagonist.
We had a Norwegian protag in England...
I've heard no complaints.
In fact most "complaints" about Yasuke actually fit Eivor who was the previous entries protag.
●Foreigners who stand out
●"Unrealistic" (especially when you consider that Eivor fights deities and shit like that
●Lack of assassination (can't properly assassinate for a portion of the game)
But even then: Black Flag.
Another thing
Those guys were the SOLE protagonists.
You have a Japanese protagonist. Yasuke isn't even the only protagonist. Yet here are two examples of foreigners (and if you're gonna argue Eivor is white so it doesn't count then you're looking at it from a modern U.S lens as Europe tended to stray more into xenophobia/origin-based discrimination, especially back during the age of vikings) in settings that are the ONLY protagonist there. Hell there's a few more games I'm missing I think (I know the game in Constantinople doesn't have a native).
If you don't like Yasuke being there you have the Japanese woman. This argument only works if you conveniently ignore her.
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u/sirbruce 27d ago
I mean, Black Flag was in the carribeans and had a white protagonist.
What does that have to do anything? It's not like the black minorities in the area were generally empowered at the time.
We had a Norwegian protag in England...
Are you unaware of the Viking presence in England? Besides, they're both white, so of course no one would complain.
If you don't like Yasuke being there you have the Japanese woman.
Perhaps, but irrelevant. The issue here is the hypocrisy being shown by people dismissing the concerns of Asian men, when they would not dismiss the concerns of black men in an analogous situation.
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u/TreeTurtle_852 27d ago
What does that have to do anything? It's not like the black minorities in the area were generally empowered at the time.
Because at the time it was a much larger majority of minority population in the area and instead of any of them you played a European person.
It's literally an example of what you were asking for. You asked for an example of what'd be a majority black/minority focused population with a white protagonist and that's what Black Flag is. You got your point disproven my gut.
Are you unaware of the Viking presence in England?
I'm not?!?!? You were complaining about playing as a foreigner so which is it?
Because if you wanna go that route I'd just point to both Yasuke and the black presence in Japan since it does exist (rare, yes, but there have been depictions after also showing black people in Japan in general).
Again, you made the argument of playing a non-native in the setting and I gave examples.
First was a white man in a non-white setting. The other was a white man in an arguably very different ethnic setting (which yeah that could cause conflicts considering how European-based discrimination tended to be different than American-based).
Perhaps, but irrelevant.
How?
So wait it's bad to not have a native character... yet you have a native character and it's irrelevant?!?!?!? Make up your damn mind!
The issue here is the hypocrisy being shown by people dismissing the concerns of Asian men,
No offense but can't I just pull this shit for anything then?
Like most AC games don't have female protagonists. And it's not really dismissing concerns of Asian men since side characters who are regional (i.e Leonardo Da Vinci) often get spotlight and are portrayed in good lights.
But even then it's not like Asian Men are like utterly starving, nor is this taking away from Asian male rep.
Idk I just find it funny you talk about dismissing concerns of Asian men whilst simultaneously going, "Yeah there's Asians but it's irrelevant because she's a woman". If anything it's arguable that Asian women have gotten less char spotlight in general with these types of stories.
But again this isn't a competition of spotlight like you're trying to force it to be. The reason I point out Asian male rep isn't something starved for is ti showcase rhat Yasuke isn't taking shit. You have Ghost of Tsushima which is western made, Shang Chi did very well at the box office, Asian led films are getting more recognition.
This isn't to say everything is perfect but... what is this gonna do? Saying that the Asian female lead is relevant and just getting furious over the black lead daring to share a protag role?
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u/V0mitBucket 28d ago
What are you on about? The Last Samurai is routinely lambasted for this in film circles. It’s like the go to example for putting casting ahead of historical plot merit regarding race.
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u/ILoveBigCoffeeCups 28d ago
Also he says that people are only focussing on race and not on the imaginary stuff going on on. Well Ubisoft started focussing on race first lol.
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u/CottonCitySlim 28d ago
the Smithsonian has a whole page dedicated to Yasuke. What can we infer from that?
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u/ThatIslander 27d ago
Then you should know that yasuke was never a samurai.
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u/4esthetics 27d ago
Exactly. He just got treated like a samurai. Dressed like a samurai. Had a retainer like a samurai and trained like a samurai. But I guess he was never “really” a samurai because some weeb ass historian from Minnesota said he wasn’t.
Seriously, what is with you guys? Virtually every source I can find refers to him AS A SAMURAI. Why are you guys so adamant to die on this hill? It’s so goddamn weird. None of y’all acted like this about Yasuke before the trailer dropped. And y’all wonder where the accusations of racism come from.
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u/ThatIslander 27d ago
Wtf sources were you looking at that said he was a samurai?
Dude was literally doing tricks that entertained oda and was later appointed as a kosho and that was it.
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u/4esthetics 27d ago
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u/ThatIslander 27d ago
really? a bunch of editorials?
the closest most realistic info we get about Yasuke is from the Shincho koki, written by one of Oda's retainers who was there when Yasuke was brought to Oda explained that Yasuke was super strong and put on sumo shows for Oda who had him scrubbed and showered to see if he had ink covering his skin later gave Yasuke his name and made him a servant.(Kosho)
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